Defenders of the Public
by racle
Summary: The Titans are invited to a Justice League conference in Washington, D.C. They embark on an epic journey, facing along the way an ignorant policeman, perverted airport security screeners, a hijacked flight, and a lawsuit!
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: There is nothing I own in this entire story. I have no money with which to pay for a lawsuit.

Chapter 1

It was a cold, rainy morning when Raven brought the contents of the mailbox to the living room of Titans Tower. Thousands of pieces of junk mail and several FedEx packages soon lay in a pile on the floor as the Titans began the arduous task of sorting out the mail.

The FedEx packages were all addressed to Robin. Robin opened one of the packages, but the package immediately caught fire. Robin jumped back, startled. He allowed Raven to open another package. White, flour-like powder spilled out of the package. On the flour, a handwritten note described the powder to be anthrax.

More cautiously, the Titans opened the remaining four packages, proving all of them to be booby-trapped or pranks.

"Look!" shouted Beast Boy, holding up a letter. The Titans quickly gathered around to read the letter:

_Dear Teen Titans,_

_Due to reasons which we cannot yet reveal, the Justice League Association of America requires your presence at our meeting in Washington, D.C. on April 1, 2006. Please arrive at the earliest possible time. The meeting will be held in a room of the Department of Justice building, so you will need to arrive beforehand to find your way around. Do not wear your uniforms in public until you arrive at the meeting. Bring this letter with you. If you are asked, the password is "Shove it." Do not reveal the contents of this letter to anyone—just show up at the Department of Justice at 9:00 a.m. on April 1, with this letter in hand. The survival of our nation is at stake._

_Sincerely,_

_Bruce Wayne_

The Titans looked at each other. It was then March 23.

Cyborg narrowed his biological eye. "This doesn't sound like something the Justice League would write. Could it possibly be a fake?" he wondered aloud.

"I think it's real," said Robin, staring at the signature on the letter. "That's definitely the signature of my teacher."

"So we have a week to get an airplane ticket then," concluded Cyborg.

A Week Later…

It was March 30, the day before the flight the Titans were going to take to Washington. The Titans took the day to pack for their trip.

That night, the Titans were preparing to go to sleep. Their flight was to leave at 7:00 a.m. the next day, so they were going to bed early. Just then the alarm rang—Slade was robbing a bank!

"Titans, go!" ordered Robin. Robin took the R-cycle while the others rode in the T-car. When they got to the bank, they found only a smashed front door and a few unconscious guards. A safe in the basement had been cut open and two gold bars had been pulled out of the stack of gold bullion inside the safe.

"Slade's gone!" commented Beast Boy.

"We were too late!" said Robin dejectedly. Then the alarm went off again—the location displayed on their communicators—Slade was attacking the power plant! More alarms appeared. Overload appeared at the oil refinery, and Plasmus at another bank.

When the Titans had finally apprehended the criminals, it was already past midnight.

The next morning, Raven awoke with a start. She glanced worriedly at her clock. It was already 6:39 a.m.! Frantically, she reached out telepathically to her teammates, causing them, too, to jerk awake from their dreams. Within a few minutes the Titans were fully dressed in their costumes. Suddenly Robin's voice rang out on their communicators. "Wait a minute! We were told not to wear our costumes, remember!"

By 6:46 a.m. the Titans had met in the living room, wearing civilian clothing. They quickly packed their luggage into the trunk of the T-car. "We'll eat after we get to the airport," ordered Robin.

At 6:49 a.m. the T-car sped out of Titans Tower. Fortunately, it was a Saturday morning and traffic was very light. The T-car rushed down the highway towards the airport…

At 6:57 a.m. Starfire happened to glance back through the rear window of the T-car. She was immediately fascinated by the blue-and-red flashing lights on the rooftop of the car following them. Looking at the car more closely, she noticed blue markings and the word "Police" on the side of the car. Beast Boy noticed her motionless stare and followed it, and in short order noticed the police car.

"Uh, Cyborg…" he began nervously, "We're being shadowed by the police…"

Cyborg looked at the rearview mirror. The police driver stuck his hand out of the window—miraculously still handling his police car at 110 miles per hour, the same as the T-car—and motioned for Cyborg to pull over.

End Chapter


	2. Upholding the Law

Chapter 2

By this point all the Titans had noticed the police car following them. Cyborg pulled to the shoulder of the highway and the police car stopped just behind them. The front door of the police car swung out and a dark blue-uniformed man wearing a golden police badge stepped out and walked up to the T-car.

Cyborg rolled down the window and faced the policeman. "Sir," the policeman spoke brusquely, "do you know the speed limit on this highway?"

Cyborg shook his head as innocently as any teenager could.

"Sir, the speed limit was 55 miles per hour. I had you going 110 on my radar," the policeman declared. "Give me your driver's license, I'm going to give you a ticket!"

All the Titans, except Starfire, became instantly afraid. Starfire was baffled by the expressions of fright on her friends' faces. "Why are you afraid?" she asked. "Is a ticket not a piece of paper that enables one's entry into a theater?"

The policeman broke out in laughter. The Titans, uncertain of his intentions, became even more afraid. "She doesn't…know what a…ticket is…" he laughed over and over, as the Titans noticed that the time of the airline flight had passed and they dared not do anything about it. Finally the policeman calmed down. "One of you explain to her what a ticket is," he commanded, and then, facing Cyborg, "Your driver's license, sir?"

"Don't we get a warning the first time we speed?" asked Robin in desperation.

"We usually issue warnings if you're less than 10 miles per hour over the speed limit," the policeman retorted. "You, however, doubled the speed limit."

"I'm really sorry, officer. We had to catch a plane."

"That's no excuse to be fifty-five miles over the speed limit! Give me your driver's license!"

The Titans all knew that Cyborg didn't have a driver's license. They racked their brains, trying to think of some way out. The noises of the policeman tapping his foot on the pavement could be heard, since there was little traffic.

"Sir!" roared the policeman impatiently. "If you can't get me a driver's license in ten seconds, I'll have to arrest you for driving without a license!"

End chapter.


	3. Checkpoint

Chapter 3

"What do we do now?" whispered Beast Boy, as the police waited outside.

"Wait a minute!" whispered Robin. "We're disguised as civilians, remember? He might not have recognized us!"

Robin then leaned over from his front passenger seat to face the officer. "Do you have any idea who we _are_?" he demanded.

The officer, taken aback, stumbled slightly. "Uh…no, I don't," he admitted. "But you're getting that ticket!"

"We are the Teen Titans! We've been deputized by the city, so you can't give us a ticket like that!" Robin shouted angrily.

Taking a closer look at Cyborg, the officer noticed for the first time that Cyborg had one red robotic eye. "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't recognize you," he was much more polite than a few seconds ago, "I apologize for making you late to your flight. Please go." He slunk back to his police car and rapidly drove off.

Finally, the Titans arrived at the Jump City airport. Beast Boy helped Raven carry her trunk into the airport, while Starfire and Cyborg took a suitcase in each hand. Robin had a large sports bag filled with everything they might need aboard the plane, plus his own backpack. A few men already stood in line at the American Airlines baggage check-in when the Titans found it. They (of course) waited patiently in the line. They could only hope that their flight was somehow delayed and had not left without them.

The line before them shortened by degrees…

"Next?" called a young woman behind the counter. The Titans walked up. Robin showed her the five plane tickets. The woman typed something into the computer and asked the Titans to place their luggage on a low metal plate located at the bottom of a large gap in the counter. A small panel displayed the weight reading for the luggage, and then two other men dressed in American Airlines uniforms took the suitcases and carelessly threw them onto a conveyor belt by the wall.

The Titans, left with only their carry-on bag and Robin's backpack, rushed to check the departure list, making sure that their flight had not left yet. Fortunately, the departure list showed their flight:

Flight 910 – From: Jump City – To: Washington DC – Scheduled: 7:00a – Actual: 8:50a

Their flight had been delayed nearly two hours!

"Thank God," murmured Robin. "We can still catch our flight."

"Can we find somewhere and eat breakfast?" complained Beast Boy so loudly that a few passersby stopped to look. "I'm starving!"

"Starving? It's only 7:45 a.m.," pointed out Raven.

"Still, there is no reason to wait," said Starfire.

Robin pointed out a sign hanging from the roof. "The food court's that way!" he said, and started off into the crowd of people. The other Titans quickly followed.

Half an hour later, the Titans had finished their breakfast and decided to wait for their plane at the gate.

Long lines awaited at the six security checkpoints through which the Titans needed to pass. The Titans got into the third (and shortest) line, right behind three fair-skinned men who were having an animated conversation in what sounded like Arabic, but which none of the Titans understood. One of them, a cripple, leaned on a pair of crutches and wore a white cloth turban. Robin wondered about this but figured it was nothing; they were just normal passengers, except for the cripple.

Robin put his backpack and the Titans' carry-on on the conveyor belt that took them into an X-ray machine. Robin stepped into the metal detector and was greeted with a loud "BEEP!" Robin remembered his weapons and took off his utility belt, passing it around the metal detector to a guard on the other side and then stepping through without incident.

Cyborg was up next, but before he had to face the detector, the guard stopped Robin. "Sir," he said, pointing to the utility belt, "you can't take these on board." He opened the various compartments on the belt, and bird-a-rangs, grappling hooks, disks of various effects, and a bowstaff could be seen. "You need to put that in your checked baggage."

Cyborg, for obvious reasons, set off the metal detector. When the guard looked, he pulled up his shirt to reveal his metal-plated stomach, and pointed out his metal face. The guard nodded in understanding, then suddenly seemed stunned as he recognized Cyborg.

"Wait!" the guard said loudly. "Aren't you Cyborg the Teen Titan?"

Cyborg nodded.

The guard nodded too, but he was more solemn. "Sir, would you please remove your right arm?" he asked politely. Cyborg disconnected his right arm and held it in his left hand.

"You'll have to put your arm in your checked baggage too," the guard declared. "You are not taking that sonic cannon aboard."

"Uh…how do we get to our checked baggage?" asked Robin. "It's being loaded onto the plane as we speak!"

"Hmm. I guess we'll have to keep your weapons then," the guard said.

Beast Boy and Starfire walked through the detector. The second guard stopped Starfire. "Are your starbolts working, miss?" he asked amiably.

"Of course, why do you ask?"

"Then your hands are weapons too, we'll have to cut them off…" he stated reluctantly.

The Titans were taken aside to allow the rest of the passengers through. They were taking too long with the guards, and had been holding up the line.

Other guards appeared and took over manning the X-ray machine and the metal detector. Then, Raven passed through the metal detector. The guards lost their focus and simply gawked at her. Without her cape, all her perfect curves were visible under the civilian clothing. Behind her, a woman dressed in black robes with a matching black veil around her face walked through, setting off the metal detector. The distracted guards did not notice as the woman took her purse from the X-ray machine and walked on.

Raven picked up Robin's backpack and the carry-on but was stopped by two of the guards. "Excuse me, miss," said one, "but we must check you out more thoroughly..."

"We're sorry for the inconvenience," the other guard cut in, "but we thought you looked a little…I don't know how to say it…suspicious, that's the word. After our suspicions are disproved, you'll be on your way." He smiled inwardly.


	4. Turbulence

Chapter 4

"I can understand giving up my weapons," Robin was expostulating to the guard, "but amputating someone's hands? Anything can be a weapon, whether or not it fires starbolts. Are you going to cut off my head, because I could use it to ram someone?" he demanded, exasperated.

Just then, a guard arrived with a chainsaw to confiscate Starfire's hands. The older guard shook his head. "Take it back, we don't need it," he ordered. All the Titans, especially Starfire, sighed with relief.

"But that's all I can grant you. Her hands are biologically part of her, so we'll let that go; but Cyborg's arm is a machine, and we won't consider it a body part. So I'm afraid he'll have to go with one arm until he gets off the flight." Cyborg nodded; his arm was more replaceable than Starfire's, so it was an acceptable sacrifice to make.

The two guards had taken Raven into an adjacent, locked room. One of the guards patted her down while the other watched. A pat-down search seemed a bit excessive, because Raven was only wearing a black tank top and dark blue jeans. The guards obviously overlooked this glaring inconsistency, as the active guard placed his hands under Raven's armpits and moved them up and down her sides. He rested his hands on her breasts and started to fondle them slowly. Raven was fuming but she couldn't do anything about it. The guard stopped and stepped back. "I think I feel something," he said jokingly. He took the bottom of Raven's tank top and pulled it upwards as if expecting to find some concealed weapon.

The other Titans went back to the X-ray machine to take their luggage…but it was gone. "Where's our stuff?" asked Robin worriedly. The Titans looked around. Their bags were nowhere in sight.

"Dude, where's Raven?" Beast Boy asked.

Fearing what was to happen, Raven read the guards' thoughts with her powers and nearly fainted in disgust. They were planning to strip-search her! The thought enraged her to the point that she lost her precious self-control and her purple eyes were replaced with four red ones. The guard that had been stripping her fell back in fright as her fingers grew into long, black tentacles and started to ensnare both guards. Raven didn't have her cloak to add to the effect, but the tentacles were scary enough. The guards were forcibly dragged into the morass of demon tentacles and emerged in fetal positions, muttering incomprehensibly and insensitive to the world around them.

"Split up! Let's—" Robin was speaking, with the wall behind him, when a black portal appeared on the wall and Raven phased through with the luggage. The Titans were visibly relieved. "Where were you?" demanded Cyborg. "We were about to split up and look for you."

"Oh, the guards said I looked suspicious and pulled me aside for an extra search," replied Raven nonchalantly.

"Why you?" asked Beast Boy.

"Well, they thought I was more suspicious than the woman behind me who set off the metal detector. Does that answer your question?"

"I still do not understand," Starfire broke in, "what difference does it make to you when someone—"

"Come on! Our flight leaves in 20 minutes!" ordered Robin, unwittingly interrupting. Robin had just returned from checking the flight departure list and had thus missed the entire exchange.

The Titans found their seats near the back of the plane. Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven were seated to the left of the aisle, while Robin and Starfire sat on the right. Starfire sat next to the window with Robin next to her. A few seconds later, a man struggled down the aisle on crutches and sat down next to Robin. Taking a better look at him, Robin realized that it was the crippled man who had been in front of them at the security checkpoint!

"Thank you for choosing American Airlines," a woman's voice suddenly said out of nowhere. It was an automated recording being played over the plane's speakers. The voice explained all the safety procedures that were used in an emergency, and a flight attendant was walking down the aisle to demonstrate the oxygen mask. None of this interested the Titans.

The aircraft, a Boeing 757, took off without incident. Almost as soon as the plane was level, the man with crutches tried to leave his seat next to Robin, but failed to get up several times. Robin leaned over and helped to support him as he stood. After successfully leaning with his chest on a crutch, the man thanked Robin and hobbled to one of the lavatories in the back.

The passengers were absorbed in whatever they did. Some talked with those next to them, others read a magazine, and still others slept. Everyone stayed seated, except for a man dressed in a dark green jacket and pants with a black headmask that covered his entire head except for his eyes. He left his seat in the first-class section and strode up to the cockpit, whose door was locked. He pounded on the door with both fists, shouting, "Let me in! Let me in!" His loud insistence drew the attention of the whole plane. Everyone looked up from what they were doing. Except for Starfire, everyone had one thought on their mind: _What if he's a hijacker?_

To everyone's relief, the sky marshal, wearing a police uniform stood from a seat just outside the cockpit door and confronted the masked man. "Passengers aren't allowed in the cockpit, sir. Please sit down."

The masked man, instead of stopping, pulled out a hatchet, raising it up over his head in such a way that the blunt side of the axe head struck the sky marshal on the top of his head, knocking him down. The masked man then swung the hatchet down on the cockpit door with all his strength. The worried passengers watched from their seats as he tried to force open the cockpit door. The door gave way just as the sky marshal woke up, drew a pistol and placed it at the head of the masked man. "Stop that or I'll shoot!" shouted the marshal.

"Should we lend him a hand?" whispered Cyborg across the aisle to Robin.

"Let's stay put for now," replied Robin. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

The masked man dropped his hatchet and held up his hands, facing the cockpit door. The marshal used his right hand to keep his pistol pointed at the would-be hijacker while he pulled out a set of handcuffs from his belt with his other hand.

End Chapter.


	5. Waiting

Chapter 5

Unnoticed by anyone, one of the doors of the lavatory opened and the man with crutches and a white turban hobbled out as quietly as he could. He understandably didn't want to be conspicuous, because he held a forbidden Kalashnikov rifle in one hand, with one of his two crutches in the other hand. He had hidden the parts of the rifle in the crutches and assembled them while in the bathroom. Quietly, he advanced to the end of the aisle. All the passengers were watching the front, where the sky marshal had the masked man at gunpoint and was preparing to handcuff him.

The turban-wearing cripple leaned on his crutch for support and steadied his aim at the sky marshal.

The passengers were watching as the sky marshal brought out his handcuffs to restrain the masked man. Suddenly three shots rang out from the back. The marshal's head nearly exploded, leaving blood all over the floor and sides of the aisle. The marshal's body slumped to the floor, dropping his pistol, which the masked man immediately grabbed and pointed towards the cockpit door. The door had been nearly broken by his earlier pounding with the hatchet so he was able to kick down the door.

The cripple at the back cleared his throat. "Attention all passengers. This is a hijacking," he announced as loudly as he could. "We do not intend to crash the plane into a building. Comply with our demands and you will be safe. Now, everyone put your hands on your head!" All the passengers put their hands on their head. Robin signaled for the Titans to do the same, then placed his hands over his hair, trying not to ruin his hair gel.

Two more shots were heard from the cockpit. The masked man picked up the bodies of the late pilot and copilot, both bleeding profusely from the head, and threw the bodies into the aisle. He then put the pistol in his pocket and sat down in the cockpit.

The door of the other lavatory (not the one used by the cripple) opened and a black-robed, veiled woman stepped out. Raven realized that she was the same one who had set off the metal detector without being noticed while the guards had been distracted. The thought stirred her anger against the two guards and she started wishing she had killed them instead of just leaving them insane. The veiled woman held a pistol in each hand and carried an AK-47 on her back. She and the crippled man slowly and cautiously walked/crutched down the aisle towards the cockpit, pointing their weapons at random people as they went.

As soon as the hijackers had reached the cockpit, the Titans heard Raven's voice saying, "So what do we do now?" Yet when they looked at Raven, they saw that she hadn't opened her mouth. They heard Raven again and realized that she was using her telepathic ability to communicate with them.

_Alright, so it looks like there are three hijackers…_ Robin's thoughts sounded in the Titans' heads as Raven transmitted his thoughts through her powers.

_The hijackers seem to all be at the front of the plane,_ continued Robin, _so maybe we can—_

_Wait!_ Raven interrupted. _Maybe there are more hijackers but they haven't revealed themselves yet._

_Then we must find a way to identify them,_ suggested Starfire.

_Raven, why don't you read every passenger's thoughts and then we'll know who else is a hijacker and where they are sitting?_

Since the hijackers at the moment were in the cockpit, Raven used the opportunity to float Indian-style over her seat. The Titans shushed the other passengers who had started to comment while Raven's spirit traveled through the minds of each and every passenger. Minutes later, Raven's spirit returned and she sat again in her seat and put her hands over her head.

_Any results?_

_The man sitting in row 29 seat E is a hijacker, and so is the woman in row 36 with no one next to her. I couldn't understand the guy in row 14 seat A. He was thinking in Arabic. I don't know about the guy next to him either—he was thinking in Spanish…_

A light bulb turned on above Cyborg's head (figuratively). _Hey, I know!_ he thought. _We can have Beast Boy transform into a poisonous snake and bite each of the hijackers. After they die from the poison, we'll walk into the cockpit and take over!_

_Do you know how to fly a plane?_

At the front of the plane, the cripple and the veiled woman were talking while guarding the cockpit entrance from any passenger interference. "Did you ever see any of the _Turbulence_ movies?" the cripple was saying.

"No…" The woman was not familiar with these films (or with anything American for that matter).

"There was the one—well, I mean, about how we're going to execute the passengers? How should we kill them if the government refuses our demands?"

"Shoot them, I guess?" The woman shrugged.

"There might be a better way. I forgot which Turbulence movie it was in, but there's the one where the hijacker throws a guy out the door in mid-flight?"

"Why? Do you think we should throw passengers off the plane, one by one, until we get what we want?"

The crippled man nodded. "Well, it doesn't really make a difference to them, but it does save our bullets," he observed.

"So?" the woman asked impassively. "We have more ammo than we need."

They were talking quite loudly, as if they wanted the passengers to hear them. It seemed to achieve the intended effect; many of the passengers paled when they became aware that they might not receive a painless death.

The two hijackers saw that they had succeeded in scaring the passengers and deliberately continued. The man enunciated as clearly as he could (through a slight accent) to the woman: "How about doing some beheading with the hatchet?" He motioned to the hatchet their accomplice had left lying on the floor beside the dead sky marshal. Two of the first-class passengers threw up, barely managing to get out their barf bags in time to avoid making a mess on the floor. A horrible smell soon spread through the plane and it was revealed that someone had peed in his pants.

Robin looked at the commotion at the front of the plane and shook his head in disappointment, then went back to planning the rescue with the other Titans.

End Chapter


	6. No Joke

Chapter 6

"Alright, here's the plan: Beast Boy will be a rattlesnake and bite the hijackers who are still in their seats. We'll wait for the seated hijackers to die, then Raven shields us while we go forward until we can take their guns. Then we'll have Cyborg fly the plane."

Beast Boy turned into a fly first and flew under the seats. Raven telepathically guided him to the people who were thinking hijack thoughts. Meanwhile, another problem had cropped up:

An elderly woman rose from her seat behind Robin, with the help of her cane, trying to get to the bathroom.

"Hey you!" the cripple shouted from the front of the plane, "Sit down!"

"I need to go to the bathroom!" called the woman in response.

"Do it in your seat!" replied the cripple, raising his rifle.

"But the—"

A man shouted from one of the rows near the middle of the plane. "Let her go!" Raven realized it was one of the unrevealed hijackers. The cripple winked at him and lowered his gun. "Fine, go ahead," he said. The old woman went into a bathroom and shut the door, just as Beast Boy was reaching the hijacker's seat.

"Owww!" the man shouted suddenly as he felt the teeth of a green snake in his ankle. He grabbed for the snake, but it was gone. The passengers around him hurried to raise their feet from the floor, lest they be bitten by the snake.

A few minutes later another passenger (unbeknownst to the passengers, also a hijacker) was also bitten by the snake.

Now that the seated hijackers were incapacitated, the Titans were ready to go. Raven stood and went into the center aisle.

"Sit down!" shouted the crippled hijacker again.

Raven formed a black shield around herself and started walking down the aisle. The other Titans stayed behind her in the aisle.

"Stop!" shouted the hijacker. When that didn't work both the cripple and his female companion started shooting. Bullets impacted the shield, making many cracks, but Raven fixed them with her powers. The hijackers looked at each other, then the woman stood up and pulled a young man from his seat at the front. Pointing her rifle at the man's head, she shouted "Stop!"

Raven stopped, while telepathically giving Beast Boy a message. Her voice sounded in only his head: "Beast Boy, get behind them!"

A green fly, unnoticed, flew behind the two hijackers and turned into a snake, biting the woman in the ankle. "Ow!" she screamed, dropping her gun and looking at her hurt ankle. The cripple fired at the snake, just as it became an insect. The bullet missed, passing through the spot where Beast Boy's (snake's) head had just been, ricocheted off the floor, and hit the passenger (pulled from his seat by the woman earlier) in the foot. He toppled to the ground, bleeding in the foot. The female hijacker, feeling the effects of Beast Boy's cobra venom, struggled to fire one last shot at the downed civilian, but Raven shielded him in time.

Raven called out, "Starfire go!" She opened a hole in the side of her black shield. Starfire fired her eye-lasers through the hole, hitting the cripple square in the chest. He dropped his gun and fell flat on his back. Robin darted forward and grabbed the gun, pointing it at the green-jacketed pilot just as he was stepping out of the cockpit with his pistol in hand. Starfire tossed a starbolt at him, knocking the gun from his hand.

The last hijacker leaped forward, tackling Robin to the ground, making Robin drop the gun. They grappled and rolled but Robin's martial art skills exceeded the hijacker's, and within minutes he joined his unconscious fellow hijackers on the floor.

A great cheer went up from the passenger section…except for the man whose foot had been injured. Raven tried healing him, but unfortunately the bullet was still in his foot, so she couldn't completely cure him.

Cyborg entered the empty cockpit and looked for the radio. It was about half an hour before he finally found it.

"Hello? Which frequency is the ground?"

He started trying all the possible frequencies, one at a time, repeating each time: "This is a passenger speaking aboard United Airlines Flight 910, the hijackers killed our pilot, anyone want to help me fly the plane?"

The other Titans each looked around in the cockpit. Robin was the one to notice a switch under a screen labeled "Autopilot". He switched it on. "I'm guessing that'll just take us right to Washington," he said, "Maybe we won't have to pilot this after all."

A few hours later, with the two living hijackers bound and gagged, the airplane was over Washington. The plane suddenly started to roll and dive unstably, scaring a few passengers. The Titans hurried back to the cockpit.

Robin looked at the nav computer. "We're at Washington! How do we land the plane?"

Cyborg suggested, "Maybe we should turn off the engines and put the plane down ourselves."

"What do you mean?"

"Raven and Star can fly, so maybe they can grab the plane and set it down gently on the runway!"

Robin thought a bit.

"The plane looks very heavy," Starfire said, "but I can try…"

"Good idea," Robin nodded, "But let's try and get some weight off the plane first. Get the plane flying as low as possible. Beast Boy, you can fly Cyborg—actually, fly all the passengers off the plane and drop them on the ground at the airport. I can jump. Then Starfire and Raven can take the plane."

Cyborg flew the plane, circling low over the airport while Beast Boy, Starfire, and Raven carried passengers out the plane doors and down to the airport. Last of all, Beast Boy flew Cyborg and Robin off the plane. Then, as a pterodactyl, he took the edge of one wing, while Raven held the other. Starfire flew above the plane, pushing it down towards the runway. Finally the plane touched the runway—it started skidding down the runway, creating a trail of sparks—the Titans realized that they had forgotten to turn off the jet engines! Starfire, Raven, and Beast Boy struggled to hold the plane back, but it was inexorably pulling them towards the direction of the tarmac, where other planes and fuel trucks were parked. Cyborg rushed to help while Robin used his grappling hook to climb back up to the plane's door to turn off the engines. It was an interminable three minutes before Robin found the throttle and turned it off.

With that over, the Teen Titans headed to a hotel to stay the night.

The next morning, the Titans, in their uniforms, walked down to the Department of Justice, where a very recognizable man in a black cape and mask with a yellow bat insignia on his chest was standing at the door.

Robin was the first up the steps. "Long time no see, Bruce!" he said, extending his hand. Batman shook his hand and started leading them inside.

"Do you have the letter?" asked Batman.

Robin gave him the letter. Batman looked at it and nodded.

They reached the conference at about 8:55 a.m. The Titans were introduced, for the first time, to Superman and Green Lantern. Batman returned to the door.

"Hmm. There should be more superheroes coming," said Green Lantern. "They must all have thought it was an April Fool's joke."

"Was it?" demanded Robin.

"No, not at all!" replied Green Lantern. "This is serious!"

Batman strolled in. "No one else is here. They must all have thought it was a joke."


	7. The Price of Helping Others

Chapter 7

It was about 10:00 a.m. on April 1, 2006. In a large conference room within the Department of Justice, the eight superheroes were gathered at one end of the table.

"I don't think anyone else is coming," Batman reported, "We might have to start without them."

Superman walked up to the overhead projector set up at the head of the table and flicked it on. Light started shining from the lens of the projector to the large overhead screen hanging from the ceiling. He then kneeled at the table and typed and clicked on a laptop connected to the projector. Soon all that was displayed was a PowerPoint slide on the screen, titled "Justice League presentation".

The next slide contained a map of Steel City. An area on the map was circled in red.

Superman pointed to this, saying, "We were recently informed that this cottage on the outskirts of Steel City is one of fifteen to twenty houses in the United States being used by Al-Qaeda to store weapons of mass destruction that were salvaged from Iraq just before the war. The Justice League can take care of the other houses, but we thought it would be more convenient if you arranged to raid this house, since it's so close to your tower. All you need to do basically is kill the few people living there before they can detonate the weapons, then put the weapons in a truck which the government can provide. They'll handle the disposal. You might need these gas masks while you're there," Superman handed the Titans a gas mask each, "and don't make the raid until we tell you. We have to hit all the caches at the same time or else we might not get it all."

Superman kept clicking through the next few slides—maps of various other cities, each with some red circles in it—and finally reached the end of the PowerPoint slides.

"That's all?" asked Robin incredulously.

"There was supposed to be more if the other Justice League members and the Titans East had showed up. They didn't. I guess you're free to go home!" said Green Lantern. "Oh, and don't worry about informing Titans East. We'll make sure they get this information too. For your part, you need to keep this absolutely confidential until we tell you to go on the mission."

"Sounds fine to me," Robin replied.

The Titans returned to their hotel. Their return flight was the next day, since they had anticipated a longer conference.

The next day, the Titans' flight was scheduled for noon, so they got up quite early. They had decided to have breakfast first, which they did at a local Burger King. Then, it was off to the airport…

Robin, having no weapons with him (he had lost all his weapons at the Jump City airport), breezed through the security checkpoint, with none of the problems that had plagued him at Jump City. Cyborg set off the metal detector once again, but the guards let him go when he showed them his artificial hand.

Two of the guards stopped Raven after she passed through the metal detector.

"_Not again…"_ thought Raven, but she became puzzled when she checked what she was wearing.

She was in her normal uniform cloak, which completely shrouded every inch of her body in darkness. The guards hadn't seen any of her yet. Why would they stop her?

Beast Boy was walking through the metal detector. A guard was saying to Raven, "Would you kindly take off your hood?" Raven complied. The guard looked at her picture on her identification, then back at her. Satisfied, he returned her ID card and released her on her journey.

For the next four hours, none of the Titans were hassled by any member of the Department of Homeland Security. The Titans got off the plane at Jump City Airport and quickly waved down a taxi. Their misfortunes would be put on hold until they once again checked their mailbox.

At dawn on April 15, Robin braved a warm sun to retrieve the enormous contents of their mailbox, which amounted to the total of one envelope. Needless to say Robin easily brought this prodigious amount of mail into the living room for the Titans to sort out.

The mail read as follows:

_The Teen Titans_

_Titans Tower, Ste. 3_

_Jump City, CA 91666_

_Dear Teen Titans,_

_In accordance with the laws of California, the Jump City District Court is hereby notifying you of the following legal action which names you as defendants. On April 7, 2006, the Court received the following lawsuit:_

* * *

_Aaron Zapater _

_2300 W. Main Street_

_Jump City, CA 91665-0001_

_Jump City District Court_

_Aaron W. Zapater,_

_Plaintiff,_

_vs._

_Raven Roth, Richard Grayson, Victor Stone, Garfield Logan, Kory Ander,_

_Defendants_

_Case No.: 13-3-457689-1_

_The Plaintiff makes a request for redress, based upon the following allegations:_

_On the morning of March 31, 2006, Plaintiff and Defendants were both aboard United Airlines Flight 910. The flight was hijacked by three people and the Defendants subsequently fought the hijackers. The Plaintiff alleges that the Defendants, contrary to their duty as deputized peace officers of Jump City, showed negligence in protecting the Plaintiff and other bystanders, resulting in the Plaintiff's being shot in the foot by a hijacker. The shot that injured Plaintiff reasonably should have been prevented, there being five police—the Defendants—present at the scene, and especially given the superhuman abilities Defendants are known to possess. Thus, by allowing Plaintiff to receive injury, Defendants showed criminal negligence._

_The Plaintiff further alleges that one Defendant, Raven Roth, unsuccessfully attempted to cure Plaintiff's foot wound, while lacking the medical skills necessary to do so, complicating the injury and eventually forcing Plaintiff to undergo several costly surgeries. Plaintiff estimates that the cost to himself of treating his injury has been increased at least twelve thousand dollars due to the failed cure performed by Defendant Raven Roth aboard Flight 910 on March 31, 2006. Plaintiff alleges that in attempting to treat an injury that was beyond her skill to treat, the Defendant Raven Roth committed medical malpractice._

_Plaintiff requests compensation from the Defendants for his injuries as follows: $12,000 economic damages for extra medical costs incurred by Defendant's medical malpractice, $29,500 economic damages for lost wages which Plaintiff would have earned at his job as a lawyer during the four days in which he was incapacitated by the foot injury, had he not been so incapacitated, and $300,000 non-economic damages for the pain and suffering of Plaintiff._

_Dated this 7th day of April, 2006_

_2300 W. Main Street_

_Jump City, CA 91665-0001_

_Aaron Zapater, Attorney_

* * *

_Your court case is scheduled to begin June 2, 2006, at 8:00 a.m. Inquiries about any out-of-court settlement of the case should be directed to the Plaintiffs' counsel._

_Jump City District Court_

_162 N. Second Avenue_

_Jump City, CA 91665-1340_


	8. Zapater v Grayson et al, Part 1

Author's Note: **I never said those hijackers were "Iraqi"!** I just wanted them to fit the stereotypical appearance of caricature terrorists (which, I realize, isn't perfectly accurate, and I meant no offense at all). If I hadn't made them somewhat Middle Eastern, they might have been mistaken for ordinary "Turbulence"-style mentally unstable hijackers, which isn't what I meant.

Chapter 8

Other things had transpired after the Titans had left the plane on the runway. Paramedics rushed the six unconscious hijackers to a Washington, D.C. hospital, saving all but one of them. The five who survived were last seen inside the fence of Guantanamo Bay. All across the nation the Teen Titans were being celebrated and worshiped as heroes—not that they ever weren't in the first place—and the Titans Tower mailbox would receive many letters of thanks from relatives of the passengers who had been on that flight.

The legal troubles of the Titans also received widespread media coverage. The prevailing sentiment in the legal community was that the Titans had an easy win on their hands, but some dissented from that view, including a young upstart lawyer from Jump City named Aaron Zapater.

On June 2, hundreds of camcorders, flash cameras, notepads, and tripods, all manned by the country's best journalists, filled and surrounded the Jump City court chamber as the Titans took seats at a table at the front of the room, facing the judge's bench. The man suing them, Aaron Zapater, was already sitting at his table on the other side of the aisle. The jury was seated in two rows to his left.

A clerk banged the gavel twice.

"All rise!" she shouted, and everyone duly stood for the judge's entrance.

The judge, dressed in the familiar black robe, walked unsteadily through a door in a corner of the front of the room, then sat down in the luxurious swivel chair behind the wooden counter. The clerk held her nose for a moment as the judge passed her, leaving behind a strong smell of alcohol. The journalists duly noted the judge's red eyes, disheveled appearance, and the liquid stains on his robe. It was clear to everyone that he was drunk, but no one dared comment on it.

"The honorable the judge—" the clerk started, but was rudely interrupted.

"Skip the intro!" the judge shouted. "Mr. Zapater, state your case!" So saying, the judge toppled onto the bench, sound asleep.

Aaron stood and turned towards the jury, ignoring the hostile stares he was receiving from the Titans and the entire audience. He cleared his throat, and began:

"Today, I am here to seek redress for injury to myself, caused on March 31 of this year by the negligence of these incompetent police," he announced, pointing to the Titans and drawing a wave of boos from the audience, but silence from the jury. "I will show that on the morning of March 31, I was aboard United Airlines Flight 910 with the team led by the Boy Blunder, Mr. Grayson. We both agree that a hijacking occurred on the plane. The Teen Titans were supposed to have protected all the passengers—of which I was one—from the hijackers. I will now prove that I was shot in the foot by one of these hijackers, because the Titans did not act quickly or aggressively enough against the hijackers; and that they were not using their powers to their full extent.

"I now call as my first witness, Richard Grayson to the stand!"

Robin stood confidently and walked up to the witness box, sitting in the chair. The bailiff placed Robin's left hand on a nearby Bible and raised Robin's right hand in the air. "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God?" the bailiff asked politely.

"Yes!" Robin shouted. The bailiff took the Bible and put Robin's hand down.

"Fit for interrogation, Mr. Zapater…" the bailiff mumbled under his breath. Robin angrily reached out but the bailiff had moved out of his reach. The jury chuckled a bit. Aaron walked up to the witness stand and faced Robin.

"You will admit that you were present at the time of the hijacking?" Aaron asked.

"Yes, I will," Robin answered, not seeing any harm in the confession yet.

"Is this a correct description of the sequence of events: A hijacker in a green jacket and headmask smashed in the cockpit door and fought with the sky marshal. The marshal used his gun to subdue the hijacker. At that time, another two hijackers shot the marshal from the back of the plane, killing him. They proceeded up the aisle with rifles while the first hijacker killed the pilots and started flying. Do you agree with this sequence of events?"

"Yes," Robin said meekly.

"Louder, so the jury can hear you?" Aaron demanded.

"Yes, I agree," Robin pronounced.

"Good. Now, around this time, two passengers, who were later discovered hijackers, were bitten by a snake?"

"The snake was Beast Boy in a transformation," Robin said.

"I see. Then, you used a black shield—Miss Roth has that power—to advance on the hijackers, is that correct?"

"Yes."

"Why did you not fire on the hijackers with the bird-a-rangs and all kinds of disks that you are known to carry around?"

"The airport security took them at the checkpoint."

"What of Mr. Stone's sonic cannon?"

"The airport security took that too."

"Did you still have Miss Ander's starbolt hands?"

"It took a lot of arguing with—"

"Sir, I asked if Starfire's hands were still with you at the time of the hijacking!"

"Yes, she had her starbolts."

"She only fired three starbolts during the entire struggle, if I remember correctly. Do I?"

"Uh…" Robin was unsure what to say. He realized that if he admitted the point, Aaron was going to grill him on why he hadn't used her more extensively to suppress the hijackers. But if he didn't, and he had any other witnesses, he would be charged with, and guilty of, perjury.

"Uh…I didn't really notice her during the battle, I was concentrating on taking out the hijacker in front of me," Robin said nervously. It was as good a dodge as any.

Aaron nodded. "And you, Mr. Grayson, you had no weapons, but did you still possess your vaunted martial arts at that time?"

"Yes, I used them to take out a hijacker! You saw me!"

"And you—" he stopped, and decided that he was done. "I have no more questions for this witness, your honor!" he shouted. The judge didn't respond.

Aaron looked frantically at the judge. "Your honor, I have no more questions for this witness!" he shouted at the top of his voice.

"The witness may sit," mumbled the judge in response. Robin hurried back to the table with the other Titans.

"I now call my second witness…" Aaron paused to look down at a paper, "Kory Ander, to the stand!"

Starfire walked up to the same chair and sat in it. Again the bailiff placed her left hand on the Bible, then put her right hand in the air. "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God?" he asked. Starfire looked at him blankly, as if confused.

"Miss Ander, do you understand what I just said?" asked the bailiff, still amazingly patient.

"I do not believe I can swear to it," Starfire said, "I can promise to tell the truth, to the best of my knowledge, but how can I tell the 'whole' truth when none of us even know the whole truth? I had thought that the purpose of this trial was to bring together the many parts of the truth, each of us contributing a different part of it, so that we could arrive at the whole truth. I cannot honestly swear to tell the whole truth, as you say."

The whole court was speechless with shock. Even the journalists had stopped writing on their notepads, being taken aback by what they had just heard.

Starfire continued: "I also do not know how I am to tell nothing but the truth, when I do not know what is true and what is not. All I could know is my own perception of events, which I can only hope is true. It is clear to all of us that the opposing counsel's perception of the truth is different than my own. As to which is correct, the purpose of this court is to decide that, correct?"

Murmurs and whispers broke out in the audience. Beast Boy leaned over to Robin, cupping his hand over his mouth to whisper: "Robin, I think she's got a point!" The whispers stilled instantly as the shocked audience heard Starfire ask: "Who is this 'God' you speak of? I have never seen him; why would he help you?" She was clearly addressing her question to the bailiff, who had, after all, said 'so help me God'. The bailiff took two steps back, keeping his eyes warily fixed on her. Aaron repressed a laugh, not wanting to draw the ire of the now stone-faced jury, all but one of whom were staring at her, enraged beyond words. _I think this is already going my way!_ thought Aaron happily.

End Chapter

Author's Note:

I am sorry I neglected this story for so long—I was working on my other story, Betrothed II (my first attempt at romance—I would appreciate suggestions for improvement!). In addition, the reviews for this had stopped coming in, and reviews are my only motivation for chapters beyond the third chapter of any story. All of you who were waiting for an update here should thank Hekatie for reminding me to continue.


	9. Zapater v Grayson et al, Part 2

Chapter 9

With the whole court in a shocked silence, the bailiff finally stepped forward and again tried to swear in Starfire.

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the…" the bailiff started, while at that moment, just as the bailiff said "the" for the second time Starfire started to say "yes". The bailiff continued, "…whole truth, and no—"

"No! That is not possible!" and "—nothing but the truth so help me God" rang out at the same time in the court, both Starfire and the bailiff talking over each other.

"Ah, whatever…" the bailiff muttered, "she's agreed to tell the truth, and that's all that matters." He then stepped aside. Aaron stood and started asking.

"Why did you only fire three starbolts?" he asked.

"I did not wish to hit you," she replied.

"No, I mean before the guy held the gun to my head. While I was still in my seat, why didn't you fire at them more?"

"I could not disrupt Raven's shield, it would have made us vulnerable to return fire."

Aaron nodded skeptically. "After the hijacker started holding the gun to my head, I saw you fire through Raven's shield. So why couldn't you do that before?"

"I do not know, Robin told us the plan and we followed it."

"Then, do you believe that the responsibility belongs only to Robin? Is he the only person guilty of negligence?" He turned away from the jury and smirked while she shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

"He was…not negligent at all, his plan did preserve your life, after all…" she trailed off.

"And it got me shot in the foot. Your honor, I have no more questions for this witness." Starfire quickly returned to the Titans' table, visibly relieved, not waiting for the judge to dismiss her.

"I call my next witness, Raven Roth to the stand!" Aaron said. Raven walked to the stand, glaring daggers at the hostile lawyer. She almost flinched when he simply glared back with equal intensity.

Raven sat down, put her left hand on the Bible and her right hand in the air, and took the oath without any trouble.

"Now, Miss Roth, I understand that you have telekinetic powers?"

Raven secretly listened to Aaron's thoughts, quickly finding out his intended line of questioning.

"Yes, I do," she answered to the innocuous question.

"Why didn't you use them to grab the weapons from the hijackers' hands?"

"My powers have limits," Raven said reluctantly, knowing that all the villains out there were listening for her weaknesses, "There were at least five different guns involved. I couldn't control so many different things and still be able to shield the Titans."

"You also have some healing powers. Why didn't you extract the bullet from my foot telekinetically and heal me then?"

"I didn't want to damage the rest of your foot with my powers."

"No more questions for this witness!" Raven stood and left the witness box, her cloak swishing dramatically behind her as she turned to walk to the Titans' table.

"I call my next witness, Garfield Logan, to the stand!" Aaron shouted. Beast Boy came to the witness box and sat in the chair, also putting his left hand on the Bible and his right hand raised in the air.

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help me God?" the bailiff said rapidly.

"Huh?" Beast Boy blinked, not understanding some of the words.

The bailiff repeated himself very slowly, "Do……you……swear……to……tell…..the……truth……the……whole…….truth…….and…..nothing……but……the……truth……so……help……me……God?" as the audience and the jury struggled to hold back laughs.

"Yes!" Beast Boy said.

The bailiff took the Bible again and stood aside, while Aaron advanced up to the box, facing Beast Boy.

"You were the snake that incapacitated most of the hijackers, correct?"

"Yes."

"After you bit the female hijacker, her companion fired at you. Why did you become an insect?"

"To avoid the other hijacker?" Beast Boy suggested hopefully.

"You were in between the bullet and my foot, weren't you?"

"I…guess so."

"Then why did you avoid the bullet and allow it to hit my foot? Why didn't you take the bullet as your duty to the people required?"

"Well…I…uh…We're trained to dodge shooting enemies. It's instinct."

"Well, that shows negligence, doesn't it? You're a deputized Jump City peace officer. I'm a civilian. You should have put my well-being before your own."

"Well, you're well now—"

"No more questions!" Aaron interrupted. Beast Boy shrugged and left the chair.

"I now call my next witness, Victor Stone, to the stand!"

Cyborg went up and took the oath easily.

"Mr. Stone, you did not participate in fighting the hijackers, did you?"

"I didn't have my sonic cannon," Cyborg answered.

"But you had your left arm. You could have used martial arts."

"But I couldn't fight with only one hand."

"What about your shoulder rockets?"

"Too powerful for the situation. They would've blown up the entire plane and killed the passengers. I couldn't use them."

Aaron nodded, seeing that he would get nowhere with this witness. "Your Honor, I have no more questions for this witness."

"My next witness will be my surgeon," Aaron announced, "Martin Mikoyan, I now call Martin Mikoyan to the stand." A man dressed in a professional lab coat with a stethoscope around his neck rose from a seat just behind Aaron's vacant seat. He took his seat in the witness stand and was sworn in without any trouble.

"Mr. Mikoyan, enlighten us on the nature of my injury," Aaron said.

"Well, when you came in, we found that you had a bullet stuck in your ankle. The bullet had shattered one of the small bones in the ankle, so I had to remove the bullet, and also the fragments of the bone, from the wound. That part is quite simple, really. The harder procedure was when I replaced the shattered bone with a metal implant. The implant is designed to function like the original bone so that your ankle will move normally.While trying to remove the bone, Iencountered a complication, which I will describe. Your foot, simply put, was being affected by the healing properties of the Dark Magic. Incisions I tried to make into the muscle and fatclosed up so quickly that Ihad to reopen them repeatedly. I also had to forciblyclamp open your foot in order to insert the implant. There was an infection, which quickly formed an abscess. I had to remove that as well, and I told your doctor to give you some antibiotics for the infection. All told, three surgical procedures over four days."

Aaron's next question was, "How much did it all cost again?"

"I believe we sent you a bill for $12,000 the day after your surgeries, to cover the surgery, the cost of the metal implant, and the antibiotics."

"Thank you. No more questions for this witness, Your Honor!"

"I have one final witness," Aaron announced, "I call myself, Aaron Zapater, to the stand." He sat at the witness chair, allowed his left hand to be placed on the Bible and his right hand raised in the air, and answered "Yes" after the bailiff asked "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God".

"I now offer my version of events on that flight. After the two hijackers who hadn't done anything got bitten, I saw a black shield—we now know, it was Miss Roth's dark magic forming the shield—and there were three hijackers. One was in the cockpit, and two were shooting down the aisle. Now we see that Miss Roth is capable of opening small holes in her shields to fire at the hijackers. She should have done this earlier; if she had, the hijackers would have ducked for cover rather than grabbing me.

"I believe that by failing to consider this highly obvious tactical situation, the Titans have demonstrated negligence. They let the hijackers injure me!"

Aaron stood and limped slightly back to his table.

"Your honor, I have no more witnesses," Aaron said. The judge did not stir. As Aaron's words echoed through the room, a deafening silence soon descended on the chamber—but was suddenly interrupted by a soft snoring sound from the judge's bench.

The judge was still asleep!

"Your Honor, I have _no more witnesses_!" Aaron enunciated very clearly at the top of his voice. The judge remained slumped on the counter, fast asleep. Aaron sat down again in his chair, his duty finished until the Titans offered their case.

When it seemed that nothing was going to happen, Robin stood up and faced the jury.

"The accusations Mr. Zapater has made against us are not true," Robin began, "All of us—the Teen Titans—did everything we could, under the circumstances, to save as many lives as possible. There were almost a hundred people on that plane, and because of our efforts, not one person died." No one noticed as the judge slowly started to regain consciousness. He awoke to the sound of Robin's speaking to the jury. He quickly looked up as he realized that it was no longer the plaintiff speaking.

"We did the best we could, and if it hadn't been for the Teen Titans, that man—" Robin pointed to Aaron, "could be dead right now—"

He thought carefully. He didn't remember hearing Aaron finish his case, nor had he given Robin permission to start his…

"SILENCE!" roared the judge, interrupting Robin's opening statement. "I did not give the defense permission to state their case!"

"But you were asleep when Mr. Zapater finished—" Robin started to protest.

"You are out of order, Mr. Grayson. If you do not sit down immediately I will hold you in contempt of court!"

End Chapter…

Author's Note: I apologize for the very long wait for this update. I had writer's block on this story for a long time and after that didn't have time to come back to this. Now school's started and updates will probably be very irregular. Thank you for reading and reviewing!


	10. Zapater v Grayson et al, Part 3

Chapter 10

"Okay, okay, I'll sit down!" Robin said politely, backing up to his chair while holding up his hands as if surrendering to the judge. He took his seat at the table.

"Now where were we?" the judge asked.

"Mr. Zapater finished his case," Robin said loudly.

"Oh. Then the court shall hear the defense—and please, no one wake me up until the defense has rested!" The judge then quickly put his head down again and began snoring.

"But what if we have an objection, Your Honor—" Zapater stopped as he realized that the judge was already asleep.

"I'll hear any objections that come up, Mr. Zapater," the judge mumbled, annoyed, "but please keep them to a minimum, as I am trying to get some sleep."

So the judge dozed off again while Robin stood to face the jury. "Anyway, as I was saying, we tried our hardest to save all the passengers on that plane. And as you have seen, all the passengers survived thanks to our efforts. And all but one of them are grateful.

"However, there remains one passenger who, far from being thankful to his saviors, is attempting to extort more than three hundred thousand dollars from the very people to whom he owes his very life! That man is Mr. Aaron Zapater, who sits at that table now to claim that the Teen Titans were negligent and did not protect him as he should have been protected. If we had been negligent, Mr. Zapater would not be alive to make that accusation now! We Titans aren't invincible, and we're not omnipotent. We do everything we can, but unfortunately, once in a while, someone does get hurt. That doesn't mean we didn't try to stop it. Who injured Mr. Zapater? The hijackers did. Not the Teen Titans.

"You've heard our description of what happened on that flight already. I will now call a hostile witness, Mr. Aaron Zapater to the stand!"

Aaron sauntered confidently to the stand, making sure to do so with a slight limp. The bailiff swore him in without trouble.

"Mr. Zapater, who shot you?" Robin demanded.

"The hijacker with the veil, I think," Aaron answered.

"Would you agree that whoever shot you is then responsible for your injury?"

"I think whoever let the shot reach me is—"

"What about the one who fired the shot?" Robin screamed angrily. "Did we tell him to pull the trigger? Or did he do it by himself?"

"The hijackers are being punished," Aaron replied with an even temper, "but the issue here is…"

Robin tried to shout over Aaron, "Did I or any other Titan shoot you? Then we didn't cause your injury, did we?" while Aaron raised his voice and kept talking, "…whether or not you could have prevented the injury. You didn't attack the hijackers aggressively enough and you didn't take the bullet for me like you should have." The clashing voices rang out at the same time and the combined volume shook awake the judge.

"Please quiet down," the judge boomed, "Mr. Zapater, answer the question."

"No, the Titans did not shoot me," Aaron said. "But yes, you caused my injury indirectly by not preventing it when you could have."

"How could we have prevented it?"

"You could have attacked the hijackers more aggressively. Raven could have shielded me with her dark energy. Beast Boy could have stayed where he was and taken the bullet. You could have used some of those bird-a-rangs to throw off the hijacker's aim—"

"I didn't have my bird-a-rangs! They were taken from me by the airport security!"

"Yes, but you didn't do any of the other three things you could have done to protect me. That shows negligence."

"Do you believe Beast Boy should have sacrificed his life to save your foot?"

"Yes!" Aaron shouted his answer firmly, confidently, seemingly with conviction. "That's what heroes—"

Robin was seething with anger. "Then you also think Raven should have been shielding you instead of herself, risking the lives of four Titans to save you a surgery?"

"Yes, of course. As heroes, you risk yourselves to protect other people like me. Besides, you had Cyborg's titanium body to hide behind—"

"No more questions for this witness!" Robin interrupted.

"—so you could have used Cyborg as your shield," Aaron continued shouting over Robin even as he stood to return to his seat, "and had Raven shield me and Beast Boy take on the—"

"You weren't the only passenger in that section!" Robin retorted, "The hijacker would have just grabbed one of the other passengers! We had to think of how to protect everyone around you, not just you!"

Aaron returned to his seat and Robin faced the jury, both fuming with righteous indignation. "You have the case, right there," Robin said. "Mr. Zapater is a selfish, cold lawyer who values even one hair on his head above the entire lives of a hundred other passengers who were there that day, and to think he could turn on the people who saved him like this—"

"Objection, Your Honor!" Aaron shouted, jumping to his feet, "Robin is making personal attacks on my character that have no bearing or relevance to this case!"

The judge roused himself with some difficulty. "I'm sorry, someone called an objection?" he asked. The audience started to snicker.

"I did, Your Honor," Aaron announced. "The opposing counsel is making personal attacks on my character that have no bearing or relevance to this case."

"What exactly did he say?" the judge asked.

"He told the jury that I was a 'selfish, cold lawyer who values one hair on his head above the entire lives of a hundred passengers'." Aaron was angry, but the judge nodded knowingly.

"As true as I believe that statement to be," the judge said sagely, "it is not acceptable to attack the opposing counsel's character. Objection sustained, Mr. Grayson please rephrase your speech. Jury, disregard that statement and do not consider the character of either advocate when you render your verdict."

"Your Honor," Aaron said indignantly, "you have just expressed a bias against the plaintiff. This is valid grounds to declare a mistrial and retry the case with another jury. If I lose this case I am going to appeal."

"Go right ahead," the judge retorted nonchalantly. "Go all the way to the Supreme Court. See if it gets you anywhere. Now, Mr. Grayson, finish your closing statement so that the jury can deliberate. Refrain from attacking the opposing counsel personally."

Robin paused to collect his thoughts, then spoke again: "I don't know what else remains to be said. I'm sorry Mr. Zapater got his foot injured but he's blaming the wrong people for it. Those hijackers hurt him and the Teen Titans saved him. Yet he's suing us and not the hijackers for the money. To me, this makes no sense. I rest my case."

The judge, who had kept awake for this short time, then addressed the jury. "Now you will be given time to deliberate amongst yourselves and decide what portion of responsibility the Titans bear for Mr. Zapater's injury. You may decide that the Titans are wholly liable, or not liable at all, or any percentage in between. If you decide that the Titans bear some part of the responsibility, you must then decide how much in damages to award to Mr. Zapater—not exceeding, of course, the sum of $341,500, which is the total amount Mr. Zapater has requested." The bailiff now moved and ushered the twelve jurors through a nearby door into an adjoining, soundproof room with a long table that had twelve chairs around it.

The door closed and the jurors took their seats. The foreman, a brown-haired, blue-eyed man who looked about thirty, stood to take the verdict. "I am told that jury deliberations usually start with a preliminary vote," he said. "So perhaps we should do that."

"Sure." Other members murmured their assent. The foreman asked, "Who votes for the defendant?" Five jurors raised their hands. The foreman nodded. "Okay, then who votes for the plaintiff?" Four of them, including the foreman himself, raised their hands.

"Five to four for the Titans. Three of us haven't voted yet. Who votes for something in between?"

The remaining three jurors—juror #5, juror #9, and juror #10—raised their hands

"How much do you think it's the Titans' fault?" he asked one of them.

"Thirty percent, maybe thirty-five," said Juror No. 9.

"I think it's more like fifty," said #10.

"Ten," said #5. "Ten percent."

The foreman nodded. "So we've got twelve of us, right? What do you say we just average out all our numbers and make that our verdict?"

"What do you mean?" asked Juror No. 2.

"I'm thinking since we each have a different opinion on how guilty the Titans are—five of us are saying zero, one of us says ten percent responsibility, another says thirty, then fifty, and the last four are saying one hundred percent—let's just add all the numbers together, divide by twelve, and give that to the judge."

"So that would come out to…" Juror #3 paused, unable to do the calculation in his head. "Does anyone have a calculator?"

"I'm holding out for zero," Juror #2 declared.


	11. Decision

Chapter 12

After over a month, the jury was no closer to a verdict. The foreman had persuaded six other jurors to go along with his suggestion of averaging their individual verdicts together, which came out to a judgment of $190,265.29 against the Titans. However, four others insisted on entirely acquitting the Titans, while another refused to settle for less than 100 percent culpability.

Finally, at 4:30 in the afternoon of July 11, the door to the jury room swung open and the foreman walked out.

"Have you reached a verdict?" the bailiff asked.

"No."

The next morning, sitting at his dining table for breakfast, Aaron Zapater picked up the _Jump City Tribune_ and scanned the front page. At the top was a headline: "HUNG JURY IN TITAN TRIAL." He laid the paper on the table in front of his bowl of cereal and continued reading the main article as he spooned some cereal and soymilk into his mouth.

The phone rang. Aaron swiveled around in his chair, grabbing the phone off its hook on the wall.

"Hello?"

"I'm looking for a Mr. Aaron Zapater, is he available?"

"This is he. Who's speaking?"

"My name is Sam Wilson and I have a business proposition for you."

"Go on."

"First, Mr. Zapater, understand that everything has to be absolutely confidential. This phone might be tapped. Give me your address and I'll knock on your door tomorrow at noon."

* * *

Two months after the first trial ended with a hung jury, a much-publicized retrial was held. In the second run of _Zapater v. Grayson_, Aaron Zapater made his case as eloquently as before, but the jury was very different. After five days of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict. The Titans were one tenth of a percent liable for Aaron's injury and the six hijackers were 99.9 percent responsible. The Titans would have to pay Aaron $341.50 in damages.

Earlier in the afternoon that day, just after the court's decision had been announced, reporters swarmed the Zapater mansion to hear the eloquent lawyer's reaction to his defeat. He offered the reporters a few sound bites and confirmed that he intended to appeal the decision. "I believe my case truly has merit," the newspapers would quote him the next day, "I will appeal up to the Supreme Court if necessary."

Aaron was as good as his word. He filed every appeal he could, and the courts at each of the next levels ruled against him. On October 3, the United States Supreme Court refused to hear Aaron's appeal, thus upholding the lower court's verdict. That day Aaron's mailbox included a check from the Teen Titans for $341.50, ending the case.

* * *

The next day, after eating some muffins and a cup of coffee for breakfast, Aaron put on his cheapest T-shirt and jeans and strolled out of his house bright and early. It was only 7:15 a.m. and the sun had just risen. Aaron walked all the way around the block, and then turned back towards his own house.

He passed the house of his next-door neighbor and it happened that she was in the process of digging up weeds in the flower bed in front of her house. "Hi Aaron!" she turned and greeted him warmly.

"Hi Mary," he returned the greeting, and a second later a terrifying dark figure with a half-orange mask charged over from across the street, tackling Aaron to the ground. The masked man started punching and kicking Aaron as he lay helpless on the ground. "HELP!" he shouted. Mary stood frozen for a moment, horrified at the spectacle. Then she dashed for her door to call the police. The attacker stopped her by quickly flinging an electric disk. The disk sailed in an arc towards the door, landing on Mary's shoulder as she reached the door and releasing a surge of whitish current. She collapsed in a heap in her open doorway, unconscious. Meanwhile, the Slade figure continued pounding and kicking Aaron, who continued screaming for help. Any other civilians in the neighborhood that came within sight immediately retreated.

A few minutes later, the blue-and-white-patterned T-car screeched to a stop about twenty yards away. The Teen Titans jumped out and rushed towards the attack...

But they hesitated when they suddenly recognized the victim. It was the ungrateful plaintiff who had sued them months ago, Aaron Zapater!

Aaron looked up at the Titans, schooling his bloody and bruised face into a look of pleading. "Help!" he croaked. Slade, standing over him, kicked him again in the stomach. The Titans heard a dull thud and a few more drops of red trickled from Aaron's mouth. Robin waved off his teammates, signaling them to stay where they were.

Robin stood off to the side and crossed his arms, smirking evilly. "But we're _incompetent_, as you said. We're _negligent_. Maybe the police would help you better." Aaron's injured face contorted into a look of outrage, but he was helpless.

"Here, we'll even call the police for you," Robin said gleefully. "Cyborg, call the police to get over here. Let's go home."

"What?" Raven whirled around to stare open-mouthed at Robin.

"But we can't--" Cyborg looked at Robin in similar shock. "Robin, we're not going to leave him to _Slade_!"

Slade, upon seeing that the Titans weren't going to stop him, kicked Aaron again, rolling him over so that his face was on the concrete. Slade then drew out his bowstaff and slowly, deliberately, methodically started whipping Aaron on the buttocks. Aaron screamed.

"We can and we will--" Robin started to declare, but Cyborg cut him off with, "He could be dead by the time the police get here! We have a duty--"

"Call the police, Cyborg! That's an order! Titans, fall back!"


	12. Decision Part 2

Chapter 12

"But Robin, are we not here to enforce the law?" Starfire asked worriedly. "Slade is breaking the law, is he not? Then why must not we stop him?"

"We will," Robin replied firmly, "After Slade gets done with Zapater."

The sickening thud of Slade's boot on Zapater's stomach sounded again and the poor attorney cried out again.

"Robin," Cyborg half-shouted, half-pleaded, "If we don't at least look like we're trying to help him, he'll sue the pants off of us!"

That did the trick. Robin turned to look at Cyborg, careful consideration etched on his face as he rationally considered the pros and cons of saving Zapater. Within a few seconds he nodded negatively. "It's too late now," Robin said dejectedly. "He'll still sue us even if we start fighting now. But--hey, wait a minute--" Robin's eyes suddenly brightened and he looked up enthusiastically. "How's he going to sue us? It's our word against his. We'll just say we did the best we could but Slade just dodged our attacks. Who's going to be his witness?"

"Yeah, that's right! If we take down Slade before anyone sees, then Zapater's got no evidence against us!"

"Cyborg's right! Titans, go!"

As Robin ran towards Slade, flicking out his bowstaff, Raven pulled up beside him. "Robin, you don't seriously intend to commit perjury?" she asked in a quavering voice, some element of her conscience obviously expressing its doubts.

"It's our only hope," he quickly said, then focused on his target again. He raised his bowstaff over his head and began to furiously swing down at Slade, but stopped the blow in mid-air as Slade cartwheeled backward out of Robin's reach, and out of the way of a fusillade of large glowing starbolts. Robin jumped over Zapater's broken body and battered away at Slade with his staff. Slade effortlessly defended himself with his own bloodied staff.

Raven stopped and kneeled down at Zapater's side. "Are you okay?" she asked just as she would any other downed civilian. The attorney was unconscious, two steady streams of blood trickling from both sides of his mouth, his arm bent at a strange angle, bruises covering every visible part of his skin. Raven quickly levitated him, careful to avoid moving any limbs, and flew off in the direction of the hospital.

She didn't get very far as Slade, seeing her escape, quickly backflipped away from Robin and caught her from behind with an exploding disk. With a loud cry of pain Raven dropped both herself and Zapater (she had been levitating both). Starfire rushed to catch Aaron before he hit the ground, whereupon Slade instantly moved to intercept her with freeze disks. "Starfire, get him to the hospital!" Robin shouted from across the lawn. Cyborg managed to destroy two of Slade's projectiles with his sonic cannon, but the third impacted Starfire's leg and spread an ice casing around her torso. Distracted by the freezing sensation, Starfire momentarily let go of Zapater's body and Slade was there with his bowstaff to catch Zapater with a hail of blows as he fell. Beast Boy rushed in as a rhinoceros, but Slade quickly jumped over the attack and brought his staff down at Zapater's helpless body again. The blow was parried by Robin, thrusting his own staff at an angle into the ground right across Zapater's neck.

Meanwhile, Starfire recovered quickly, burning the ice from her thigh and then catching Slade in the shoulder with her eye lasers, knocking him several feet away from Zapater. In a flash Robin was upon him with his whirling bowstaff. Slade managed to duck the blows, but Robin's attack bought Starfire enough crucial milliseconds to swoop down, pick up Zapater, and dash for the hospital. Looking into the distance, Slade saw that Zapater had escaped him, so he backflipped into some nearby hedges and fled.

* * *

Aaron Zapater became gradually aware of the blackness before him. He opened his eyes, with some effort, and gradually a brilliant white hospital room, with some equally-brightly uniformed figures standing over him, came into focus. As he regained his senses, the blurred ovals hovering above him transformed into faces imprinted with expressions of relief.

Aaron tried to rise, only to realize that his whole body was trapped in a plaster cast, and a needle stuck in his arm. One of the nurses reached out to still him. "Relax, everything's okay," she said in reassuring tones. "You've been injured--"

"No, everything is **not** okay!" Zapater snarled angrily. As he did so he became aware of several bandages stuck to his face.

"Please, calm down, sir," the nurse tried again. "You're safe here." Once again helpless, Zapater could do nothing but lie still. "I think he's good for now," the nurse was saying to another uniformed woman, apparently the 'doctor'.

"How long have I been here?" Zapater asked the nurse anxiously.

"About three days," the nurse answered. "The Teen Titans brought you in, said Slade had attacked you. You had your arms, legs, and ribs broken in several places, and you had a lot of internal injuries. You're lucky they got you here when they did--"

By this time Aaron's bandaged face was seething with rage. "The Titans did this to me!" he broke out, cutting her off. "They stood off to the side, for five whole minutes, as I was beaten. They purposely waited until they thought I had suffered enough!"

"Oh my God! But this...no, that's impossible. They're the Teen Titans. They would never do that!"

"Oh yes they would! They would, just to get revenge on me for suing them!"

* * *

Shocked and disbelieving, the hospital staff reported Zapater's incredible allegations to the Jump City newspapers. Within hours Zapater had once again made headlines throughout the United States. Still, though, most people simply couldn't bring themselves to believe Zapater, accustomed as they were to the Titans' impeccable reputation. As Zapater proclaimed his intention to file another suit against the Jump City protectors, almost everyone laughed him off, as they had the first time.

Zapater had counted on Starfire to verify his allegations, knowing that she was too ethical to cover for the Titans. But unfortunately for him, the Titans had already accounted and compensated for the weakness of her morality. Starfire, torn between protecting her beloved friends and salving her conscience, finally decided to avoid the inquisitive Earthling reporters by "being recalled to Tamaran for official business" for the duration of the crisis. Aaron Zapater continued to claim that he had some secret evidence to prove his accusations, generating considerable speculation as to whether one of the bystanders might have videotaped or photographed the event.

As soon as his fingers were healed enough, Zapater wrote up his lawsuit against the Titans in his hospital bed and arranged for a nurse to deliver it. Everyone was anxious to see the smoking gun Zapater claimed to possess, and on February 6, 2007, Zapater appeared before the court in his wheelchair to confront the four Teen Titans once again.


	13. What Happens Next

Author's note: While I still remember the storyline I had intended when I began this story years ago, I no longer have the time to write in the details, nor will I in the foreseeable future. Therefore, the following consists of a summary of what happens next. **This story is hereby available for adoption by anyone who wishes to write out the story in full literary detail, according to the plot which was always intended for it.**

Epilogue: The rest of the story

The second trial begins on February 6, 2007, with Robin acting as lawyer for the four Titans (Starfire absent). Zapater reveals his smoking gun: a crystal-clear, authentic, forensically indisputable videotape of the entire assault, in which all the Titans' incriminating words are audible.

Robin is immediately certain that Zapater and Slade set him up, though much to his fury he could not prove it to the jury (and Zapater played the victim's part perfectly to win the jury's sympathy). Zapater calls as his witness the bystander who recorded the video. The jury, swayed by the video evidence of Robin's cruelty and his spoken-aloud conspiracy to commit perjury, awards millions of dollars in punitive damages to Zapater.

In fact, Robin is right. Remember "Sam Wilson" from Chapter 11? Yep, that was actually Slade Wilson under pseudonym. Slade, using his martial arts skills, had arranged with Zapater to cause real bruises and bleeding while not causing any *permanent* injury to Zapater. Meanwhile, one of Slade's minions, disguised as a "pedestrian" who "happened" to witness the attack and "happened" to be an amateur filmmaker, acted as Zapater's witness in the trial. The conspirators shared the huge monetary award, setting aside a portion for Zapater's actual (real) hospital bill.

Zapater, of course, eventually makes a full recovery, since Slade was actually honest (in conspiring to destroy the Titans' reputation) and didn't do any irreversible damage.

The Titans, and Robin especially, are tarnished by the scandal, and Jump City revokes their police powers.

The rest of the story focuses on the Titans' secret struggle with Slade, e.g. their effort to obtain evidence of the conspiracy and to clear their name. Most likely, their only hope is to capture one of the conspirators and force them to confess - not an easy task, since Slade has wisely helped Zapater to change his identity and go into hiding.

The Titans must eventually catch up to Slade or Zapater (or the "bystander" minion), since the story won't be complete otherwise - but how they do it, and how long it takes? That's up to you.

The End


End file.
